College Football -- Week 2 Thread

[Swaggs]

Some outstanding matchups this week:

West Virginia @ Marshall (just kidding -- I'm a homer)
Georgia Tech @ Kansas (Kansas isn't great, but it is still nice to see BCS conference teams play each other)
Georgia @ USCe
South Florida @ Florida
Iowa State @ 1-0 Iowa
Florida State @ Oklahoma
Michigan @ Notre Dame (seriously, I figured these two would be ranked in the top 15 after winning last week)
Miami @ Ohio State
Penn State @ Alabama
Oregon @ Tennessee
Syracuse @ Washington
Virginia @ USC
Stanford @ UCLA

I'm not sure bowl season will give us this many good interconference matchups. Several of these are/could be BCS-type games. Should be a great weekend.

[Poli]

I'm already covering my rear-end from the beating I'm going to get from Oregon.

[Poli]

As for Kansas, holy cow I didn't expect that last week. I'm hoping they'll rebound.

Bourbon's facebook page had a BYU homer post on it after the games this weekend...telling him it's not too late to jump on the bandwagon.

[Dr. Sak]

I am just hoping Penn State can keep it respectable.

[Lathum]

UW needs to lay the wood to 'Cuse.

[Matthean]

Michigan and ND both beat unranked teams. I don't see either one jumping from as low as they were to top 15 for what they did last week. One of them will be in the top 25 after this week though. It's a coin flip as to who wins.

I just don't see PSU going to 'Bama with a freshman QB and winning.

[cartman]

Sad news out of the Wyoming football program. One of their players was killed and three others injured in a car wreck yesterday.

1 Wyoming football player killed, 3 hurt in wreck - ESPN

[Ksyrup]

While I take issue with your definition of "outstanding," next weekend definitely has some great games. Unfortunately, I'm going to pretty much miss them all for my daughter's softball tournament. UGH.

[RendeR]

tOSU welcomes Miami into the Shoe for an assripping.

Enjoy the swirly yer about to receive hurri-queens.

[tarcone]

The Cyclowns pay a visit. The Cy-Hawk trophy is on the line. I hope we win 134-0. But Ferentz will go conservative when we get up by 21. So that wont happen.
I hate Iowa St.

[dawgfan]

Originally Posted by Lathum

UW needs to lay the wood to 'Cuse.

Well, first off they need to win period. Obviously it would be better for it to be a beat-down, but this isn't the Greg Robinson Syracuse. Washington has some issues to work out, and it may take more than 2 games to get those kinks teased out.

I'd like to think that losing to BYU has left this team seriously pissed-off and focused, but this is still a program that hasn't had a winning record since 2002 and mentally they may still be a bit fragile. If the offense can score 30+ and they win by 10 or more, I'll be pretty happy.

[the_meanstrosity]

Originally Posted by Swaggs

Georgia Tech @ Kansas (Kansas isn't great, but it is still nice to see BCS conference teams play each other)

I'm just going to go ahead and suggest college football fans skip this game. Turner Gill and the KU offense are a mess right now. Gill had gone into this season preaching that KU needed to run the ball to be successful. His press conference today suggests that KU now needs to work to their strengths and pass the ball more. Color me concerned in a coach that knew his team's strengths before the season started and did not game plan accordingly.

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by tarcone

The Cyclowns pay a visit. The Cy-Hawk trophy is on the line. I hope we win 134-0. But Ferentz will go conservative when we get up by 21. So that wont happen.
I hate Iowa St.

I had to google it -- wow, they actually call it the Cy-Hawk trophy? It's like they didn't even try to come up with a name for it!

[tarcone]

Originally Posted by Passacaglia

I had to google it -- wow, they actually call it the Cy-Hawk trophy? It's like they didn't even try to come up with a name for it!

Their is a whole series. Every time we play the Suckclones, in any sport, it gets tallied up. It is the Hy-Vee Cy-Hawk series. So the trophy is named as such.

[Swaggs]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

While I take issue with your definition of "outstanding," next weekend definitely has some great games. Unfortunately, I'm going to pretty much miss them all for my daughter's softball tournament. UGH.

Seriously, you think games between FSU/Oklahoma, Miami/Ohio State, and Penn State/Alabama are your typical weekly out of conference match ups?

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by the_meanstrosity

His press conference today suggests that KU now needs to work to their strengths and pass the ball more. Color me concerned in a coach that knew his team's strengths before the season started and did not game plan accordingly.

So lemme get this straight:
1) GT can run but has completed 4/17 passes for 24 yds and 2 INT's in their last eight quarters (going back to last season)

2) GT doesn't appear to be able to stop anyone, not even SC State, from running the ball effectively against them. Over 5 ypc over the past four games, and despite a new coordinator, the problems don't seem to have changed.

3) Kansas can't run but now thinks they need to throw, even though GT doesn't appear capable of stopping a decent HS team from running the ball.

Damn, I think you're right, this might be too ugly to watch. It has cluster fuck written all over it, although damned if I know whether the final score will be 52-49 or 6-3.

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by Swaggs

West Virginia @ Marshall (just kidding -- I'm a homer)

This game actually worries me a bit. WVU has far, far better talent and coaching and if you remove all outside factors WVU wins by at least 4 TDs. However, with them having 2 coaches that were on the WVU staff last season, Doc absolutely hating WVU right now, the game being in Huntington, and their players embarrassed that they haven't won a game in the series it has the making of a dangerous game.

With that said, I don't see how Marshall moves the ball against the WVU defense. Legg's offense is all about screens, quick tosses to the sideline, and other stuff to counter blitz heavy defenses. It plays right into how Casteel calls a game.

[Swaggs]

Originally Posted by Atocep

This game actually worries me a bit. WVU has far, far better talent and coaching and if you remove all outside factors WVU wins by at least 4 TDs. However, with them having 2 coaches that were on the WVU staff last season, Doc absolutely hating WVU right now, the game being in Huntington, and their players embarrassed that they haven't won a game in the series it has the making of a dangerous game.

With that said, I don't see how Marshall moves the ball against the WVU defense. Legg's offense is all about screens, quick tosses to the sideline, and other stuff to counter blitz heavy defenses. It plays right into how Casteel calls a game.

I think Doc will have them competetive within 4 or 5 years, if they give him time. The fact that Marshall can take props that cannot get into any of the BCS conferences should allow Doc and Seider to pull in some top 50 classes. I think they have too much to iron out to give us a real good game, but I think they'll keep it close for awhile.

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by Swaggs

I think Doc will have them competetive within 4 or 5 years, if they give him time. The fact that Marshall can take props that cannot get into any of the BCS conferences should allow Doc and Seider to pull in some top 50 classes. I think they have too much to iron out to give us a real good game, but I think they'll keep it close for awhile.

Honestly, I'll be shocked if he survives 3 years. He has a lot of people there that either don't want him there or aren't comfortable with a WVU guy coaching their team. He's probably working with the shortest leash of any new coach out there and doesn't have much talent. I don't think he can survive 2 years with no bowl.

I also wouldn't be surprised if CUSA ended up putting a limit on props because of Doc. He will abuse props there at every opportunity. Money is going to limit his recruiting capabilities overall though. Last year he put together a solid class rather quickly in large part because it was done on WVU's dime (don't mean that to knock his recruiting ability, but he was able to use relationships built while coaching at WVU to pull a lot of those guys in). This year he's working with far less money for recruiting than he's ever had to work with.

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by tarcone

Their is a whole series. Every time we play the Suckclones, in any sport, it gets tallied up. It is the Hy-Vee Cy-Hawk series. So the trophy is named as such.

Cool, adding a sponsor's name to the trophy sounds way better.

[BigDawg]

Michigan @ Notre Dame (seriously, I figured these two would be ranked in the top 15 after winning last week)


Your kidding right??

Mich is gona get its arse handed to them this week, their what 8-16 last 2 seasons and will probibly finish 5th or 6th in the big ten this season. and if you think "shoelaces" is gona run around like Jim Thorpe again this week your sadly mistaken.

They supprised UConn but their is tape on him now, their RB's are pityful so we see just what kind of arm shoelace has.

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by Swaggs

Seriously, you think games between FSU/Oklahoma, Miami/Ohio State, and Penn State/Alabama are your typical weekly out of conference match ups?

No, I was commenting on your inclusion of GT/KU, ISU/Iowa, Oregon/Tennessee, Syracuse/UW, and USC/UVA as "outstanding" matchups (in terms of either the general "who gives a shit?" factor or the "likely to produce a good game" factor). Interesting that you picked the truly outstanding matchups to defend yourself!

[Swaggs]

Originally Posted by BigDawg

Michigan @ Notre Dame (seriously, I figured these two would be ranked in the top 15 after winning last week)


Your kidding right??

Mich is gona get its arse handed to them this week, their what 8-16 last 2 seasons and will probibly finish 5th or 6th in the big ten this season. and if you think "shoelaces" is gona run around like Jim Thorpe again this week your sadly mistaken.

They supprised UConn but their is tape on him now, their RB's are pityful so we see just what kind of arm shoelace has.

Yes. I am kidding.

[Swaggs]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

No, I was commenting on your inclusion of GT/KU, ISU/Iowa, Oregon/Tennessee, Syracuse/UW, and USC/UVA as "outstanding" matchups (in terms of either the general "who gives a shit?" factor or the "likely to produce a good game" factor). Interesting that you picked the truly outstanding matchups to defend yourself!

Well, I could have re-listed the rest of the games to defend myself, but I already did that in the first post. I suppose I could have listed them, from high to low, in order of outstandingness or placed them into tiers based on their level of being outstanding, but I assumed you would realize that I was listing the headliners rather than the entire week's schedule.

Sorry if you do not "give a shit" about ten or twelve games (many of which are the type of OOC games that give us a perspective on how much strength and depth a conference has) between teams that are in the top 50ish. Personally, I find those much more interesting than watching BCS teams club subdivision, MAC, WAC, or Sun Belt teams. But, to each their own.

[Ksyrup]

It was just a throwaway comment. Sheesh.

But yeah, OOC game does not equal "outstanding." I mean, I'm sure Duke and Arizona State probably haven't played in a while, but I really wouldn't be much interested in watching that game. I'm not saying they won't turn out to be good games, but the matchups aren't particularly compelling (of the ones I listed).

[MrBug708]

Stanford is gonna roll UCLA

[TroyF]

Originally Posted by BigDawg

Michigan @ Notre Dame (seriously, I figured these two would be ranked in the top 15 after winning last week)


Your kidding right??

Mich is gona get its arse handed to them this week, their what 8-16 last 2 seasons and will probibly finish 5th or 6th in the big ten this season. and if you think "shoelaces" is gona run around like Jim Thorpe again this week your sadly mistaken.

They supprised UConn but their is tape on him now, their RB's are pityful so we see just what kind of arm shoelace has.

Obviously, he was joking about top 15. Not sure it took that to figure this out.

On the other side of it, I wasn't exactly impressed with ND last week either. I thought Purdue really screwed up by not attacking the edge of the defense more. I think this game comes down to turnovers and won't be decided until middle to end of the fourth quarter.

One more quick note: It was hard not to be impressed with old shoelace last week, but I think I was more stunned by his arm than his legs. I knew he could run like the wind. 19-22 against anyone is impressive. He made good decisions with the ball, was accurate and didn't just look to run the second he dropped back. Color me impressed.

[Poli]

I'll be recording the KU/GT and Mich/ND games as well as Oregon/UT. Due to the late start, I may actually be home to watch the Oregon/UT game. If I'm not the phone gets shut off once game time hits and I will place myself in media isolation until I get home.

Last week I wanted to stab my girlfriend's cousin at a family gathering as he kept broadcasting scores to anyone within earshot. Listen, kid, I know it's Tennessee vs. Tennessee-Martin. I know the game is likely to be a 49-0 shutout. I'm sure Ole Miss and Kansas thought they had a few cupcakes in line as well. I just don't need you telling me about it.

[Noop]

Where is the Sooner Gangbang? Have they all been in hiding since they lost that bet against me?

Florida State vs. Oklahoma should be a good game hopefully we can make it competitive.

[BishopMVP]

Originally Posted by TroyF

On the other side of it, I wasn't exactly impressed with ND last week either. I thought Purdue really screwed up by not attacking the edge of the defense more. I think this game comes down to turnovers and won't be decided until middle to end of the fourth quarter.

Robert Marve (Purdue QB) was getting to the edge at will on us with those designed rollouts, but I'm not sure if that was defensive breakdowns or consistent with a gameplan to keep everything short (Despite completing 70% of his passes Marve averaged 7.1 YPA). We were also twice inches away from taking a 27-3 lead midway through the 3rd Quarter (the called back Marve fumble our DE recovered for a TD and Michael Floyd's catch/fumble on a slant inside the 5 yard line). I think it's possible to make a case for either team to be ranked anywhere from about 17th to 40th right now, but they're both prominent enough that winning will jump them over teams, so I don't really care.

My slight problem with the polls is a perceived double standard with Boise/TCU, and the more common issue of voters not giving enough weight to close losses. If Boise really is the #3 team in the country (or #1 in a number of voters minds), and VT was one converted 3rd down or completion on a long bomb away from beating them, aren't they still a top 10 team? Oregon St/TCU is even worse - if you believe TCU is really a top 5 team, shouldn't Oregon St at least be ranked? If OSUw had gone to Texas, Alabama, Ohio St or Florida and lost by 9 does anyone think they wold have dropped out of the top 25 or we'd be jumping that team up over teams to #4/5?

[Ksyrup]

First, ranking ANY team until about November 1st is silly, because aside from past history and what we THINK of the players before the season, how we view the team during the season is almost entirely based on who they play and how they do. VT may end up 7-5, they may end up 11-1. Obviously, that would have quite an effect on how BSU looks now.

But above anything, losses matter. That's what the BCS proponents keep saying - every week is an elimination week - so that's what it means. You lose, you drop.

The real problem with voting now is that the voters largely box themselves in due to the indiscriminate way they drop teams and them move them up later, because by then it's all about dropping the later losers and moving up the early losers, and very little analysis goes into who they lost to, what kind of game it was, etc. It's mainly about you lost later, so you drop now and they move up.

[digamma]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

So lemme get this straight:
1) GT can run but has completed 4/17 passes for 24 yds and 2 INT's in their last eight quarters (going back to last season)

2) GT doesn't appear to be able to stop anyone, not even SC State, from running the ball effectively against them. Over 5 ypc over the past four games, and despite a new coordinator, the problems don't seem to have changed.

3) Kansas can't run but now thinks they need to throw, even though GT doesn't appear capable of stopping a decent HS team from running the ball.

Damn, I think you're right, this might be too ugly to watch. It has cluster fuck written all over it, although damned if I know whether the final score will be 52-49 or 6-3.

Jon, The rushing numbers against SCSU are skewed by one 72 yard run. Obviously you can't take that out of the stat column, but I was impressed by the second half adjustments CAG made. Absent the 72 yard run, SCSU rushed for about 3.5 yards a carry and had only 64 yards in the second half. Oh, and we're talking about a 31 point victory. I realize the Georgia game from last year still sucks, but please give them a chance before you poo poo them completely.

[digamma]

AJ Green out for Saturday for UGA.

[grdawg]

Originally Posted by digamma

AJ Green out for Saturday for UGA.

Where did you see this? According to the Macon beat writer, he said Richt said nothing knew on AJ Green as of 20 minutes ago.

[digamma]

It was on the ESPN ticker. I haven't seen it on the web yet.

[digamma]

grd,

I haven't seen it again, which may mean they pulled the story back, as the ticker typically repeats over and over and over again.

[Easy Mac]

A.J. Green's eligibility still at issue with NCAA, source says - ESPN

edit:

What I don't understand is this:

A person familiar with the NCAA investigation told ESPN.com that Green did not sell his jersey on eBay and received less than $1,000 for it.

Either its horrible editing, or the familiar person is an idiot.

[Ksyrup]

Yeah, either that's just an incorrect statement or written wrong, or he sold it - but not on eBay - for $1000.

[BishopMVP]

The way I read it is that Green sold it to a friend or fan for less than $1000, who then put it up on ebay and sold it for more than $1000. Still, horrible editing.

[Cuckoo]

Originally Posted by Noop

Where is the Sooner Gangbang? Have they all been in hiding since they lost that bet against me?

Florida State vs. Oklahoma should be a good game hopefully we can make it competitive.

Can't speak for the others... But it hasn't exactly been roses for us since Bradford went down last year. Tough season, with plenty of ups and downs. There was a great deal of optimism coming into this season, based on all the experience gained last year, but a mediocre effort last week against Utah State has instilled a bit of fear in the Sooner Nation.

This week's game will tell us a lot about Oklahoma. If they lose at home to break their streak, it will signal that they are indeed not as good as many had thought/hoped. If they can get a win over a FSU team that looks much-improved, optimism will return.

[Ksyrup]

I honestly have no idea, good or bad, what FSU is going to do. All I want is anything but a non-competitive game from FSU. If they win, it would be gravy.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by digamma

Jon, The rushing numbers against SCSU are skewed by one 72 yard run. Obviously you can't take that out of the stat column, but I was impressed by the second half adjustments CAG made. Absent the 72 yard run, SCSU rushed for about 3.5 yards a carry and had only 64 yards in the second half.

I guess it's just me being a nattering nabob.

It still comes down to you have to get off blocks you have to tackle people and get into the right gaps. The one thing that is scary is that you had four weeks in camp and two weeks to get ready for that opponent and this week you have three days. When kids are getting their butt whipped it is always the scheme, or they need to make an adjustment. Sometimes they just need to man up and make a play.

Oh. Wait a minute, that isn't just me. From the second sentence on, that's the take on the defense from CPJ. Georgia Tech Official Athletic Site

Incidentally, The box score I'm looking at says their longest was 55 yards, not 72.

[Cuckoo]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

I honestly have no idea, good or bad, what FSU is going to do. All I want is anything but a non-competitive game from FSU. If they win, it would be gravy.

I have no idea about OU either, but all of the pressure is on us. As you say, the expectations aren't really there yet for FSU, while Oklahoma is favored and had the preseason title talk from folks like Herbstreit and Phil Steele. Then, there's the home winning streak. I'm afraid that pressure is going to get to some of the young guys.

Most of the first half against Utah State looked exactly like what I expected, a 21-0 lead en route to a blowout. But the rest was filled with mistakes, blown assignments and tentativeness. It seemed like the moment they met some opposition, they tightened up. Even worse, most of the mistakes were in the secondary. If they do that against Ponder, who looks to be developing into a pretty savvy passer from what little I've seen, it could be rough.

[Ksyrup]

Ponder was great last year, it's just the D was so historically awful they didn't win enough for anyone to notice (and his peformance got lost in all the losses and then his injury).

If this game was a home game for us, there might be a little pressure. But being on the road, all they have to guard against is getting killed like Miami did a few years ago.

[digamma]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

I guess it's just me being a nattering nabob.

It still comes down to you have to get off blocks you have to tackle people and get into the right gaps. The one thing that is scary is that you had four weeks in camp and two weeks to get ready for that opponent and this week you have three days. When kids are getting their butt whipped it is always the scheme, or they need to make an adjustment. Sometimes they just need to man up and make a play.

Oh. Wait a minute, that isn't just me. From the second sentence on, that's the take on the defense from CPJ. Georgia Tech Official Athletic Site

Incidentally, The box score I'm looking at says their longest was 55 yards, not 72.

You are correct. I don't know where I pulled 72 from. It is still an outlier in a much better second half performance.

Keep in mind it was the first game in a new scheme. I am concerned with LB gaps, but I was mildly pleased by the NT play. In a number of cases we plugged the gap and the LB missed a tackle or overpursued. Hopefully, those things are fixable.

And you deleted the sentence from CPJ where he said it was expected for the first time out in a new scheme with guys playing new positions.

Point is, the game against SCSU doesn't mean much. We'll see over the course of the season. Not unusual for me to be more silver lining to your cloud.

[grdawg]

Originally Posted by digamma

grd,

I haven't seen it again, which may mean they pulled the story back, as the ticker typically repeats over and over and over again.

Ah, thanks. I just wish the NCAA would make a decision one way or the other already.

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by grdawg

Ah, thanks. I just wish the NCAA would make a decision one way or the other already.

Local radio rumour right now is that he's playing. He gets the one game suspension (last weeks game) and that is it.

[Ksyrup]

UGA fan on another board is saying 4 game suspension.

[Ksyrup]

Official word finally came down from the NCAA Wednesday as it was announced that wide receiver A.J. Green must miss four games as a condition to become eligible to play this season.

Georgia athletic director Greg McGarity said the school will appeal the decision.

A source told UGASports today that the school is hoping to get the suspension lowered to two games. If not, Green will make his debut in three weeks against Colorado.

According facts of the case submitted by Georgia, Green sold his Independence Bowl game jersey to an individual who meets the NCAA definition of an agent.

Green has repaid the $1,000 value of benefits to a charity. According to NCAA rules, an agent is an individual who markets or promotes a student athlete.

Green released a statement through the Bulldog sports information office.

"I want to apologize to my coaches, teammates, and the Georgia fans for the mistake in judgment. I very much regret all that has taken place and the distraction that's been caused," Green said. "I've learned a valuable lesson and hope others can learn from my mistake. I can only focus my attention now on practicing and looking ahead to getting back with my teammates as quickly as possible."

Head coach Mark Richt said he was disappointed with the outcome.

"Certainly I'm disappointed with the outcome," Richt said. "However, we have games to play and that's where our focus needs to be in the coming days and weeks. Other players will have to step forward and I¹m confident they will do that."

*

[GrantDawg]

Yeah, just heard that. Same old crap.